NFC Notes: Chase Young, Saquon Barkley, Commanders, Cowboys, Giants

Commanders

Commanders HC Ron Rivera thinks DE Chase Young showed “explosiveness” in his return from a knee injury.

“He was so excited to get back out on the field, we had to really kind of try to temp him the best we could,” Rivera said, via CommandersWire. “A couple of times, he popped out there when it wasn’t his time to rotate in. But we tried to maintain that with him as good as we can. Secondly, I thought he did show his explosiveness. There were some times where you saw him just flat-out win on his own, and the quarterback [Russell Wilson] just barely got the ball out on time, and then you saw his persistence in terms of countering, coming back underneath, and then getting his first sack. That was good to see. Then there were a couple of times, especially in the red zone when we needed him, and Montez came through together where they met at the quarterback; that was a lot of fun.”

• The Commanders worked out five long snappers including Tucker Addington, Jake McQuaide, Bradley Robinson, Rex Sunahara and Carson Tinker, per Aaron Wilson. 
• However, the team plans to stick with incumbent LS Cameron Cheeseman at this time. 

Cowboys

Through two weeks, the Cowboys look like the NFL’s best defense by a good bit. There are a lot of reasons for that, including the presence of star LB Micah Parsons, but a big reason is the continuity they have with a third year under DC Dan Quinn, who has turned down what appears to be strong head coaching interest two offseasons in a row to stay in Dallas. That’s made a big impression on players like DE DeMarcus Lawrence.

“It means a lot that he would sacrifice his career for all of our goals at hand,” Lawrence said via Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. “Hats off to him. I salute him for that because a lot of men wouldn’t do that. I think that goes out to the belief that DQ has for this group, the way that we’ve been battling over the last years. We understand what kind of group we have. We have more to give.”

Giants

• Giants HC Brian Daboll on the injury sustained by RB Saquon Barkley: “He’s a quick healer. I’m not ready to say he’s in or he’s out for Thursday night.” (Art Stapleton)
• Daboll said Barkley has already made considerable progress: “With every injury, until you’re with the player (and) you see the player, I don’t know — you might heal a little bit different than I heal, I might heal a little bit different than another player heals. Saquon is a lot better than maybe I thought he would be or some other people thought he would be today. He might heal a little bit differently than another player, if you will. So we’ll just take it day to day with him. And if he can make it, great. If he can’t, we’ll see if he can get better by the following week and we’ll just take it one day at a time.” (Pat Leonard)